The high unemployment rates in China are driving the youth to extreme alternatives, and while the solutions sound dystopian, they highlight just how hard the experience of joblessness can be on the young.
When you can’t find the real deal, settling for an imitation can be the next best thing, but this strategy can take on many strange forms. Unemployment can drive anyone to extreme measures, but for the youth in China, it has driven them to pay money to pretend to work. China’s “pretend to work” trend has risen from a number of faux office spaces where individuals can pay to experience a work environment, allowing them to continue a structured routine of employment rather than wasting away at home.
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China’s Youth Unemployment Levels Lead Them to Fake Workspaces
The youth unemployment rate in China is believed to be as high as 14.9% according to data from May. While this is lower than the 15.8% seen in previous months, the numbers are still alarmingly high and are expected to go higher as graduates enter the job market in coming months. The growing problem of unemployment is a concern worldwide, but for the youth in China, pretending to work appears to be the best stopgap solution until they land on something better.
Charging a daily fee of around 30 to 50 yuan, which converts to $4.20 to $7, these spaces offer the youth with Wi-Fi, lunch, computers, coffee, and generally imitate the environment they could expect in a workplace. Many duplicate the office space as well, with typical desks, meeting rooms, and other shared spaces to operate within, among other young job seekers who are stuck in a similar situation.
Why Are the Youth Pretending to Work in China?
China’s mock-up workplaces—primarily provided by the Pretend to Work Company—offer these youth a way to hide their unemployment from concerned family members. They give them a chance to enjoy some of the comfort and familiarity of a workplace while keeping up the illusion of employment. In the modern world, most job hunting happens online, and these spaces likely provide a good alternative to sitting alone at home or spending even more money trying to work out of a cafe or public space.
China’s fake office trend offers its youth a sense of normalcy, allowing them to log in and out as they would at an actual job. It can be easy to give up hope during such tough times, but China’s mock-up workplaces provide the youth with a space to practice discipline and commit to the job hunt with greater vigor.
Some reportedly even offer them services like a staged exchange with a supervisor, to get the full experience of employment. These shared spaces likely also help the youth find comfort among others who are also struggling with unemployment, allowing them to connect with their comrades while taking a break from the general sense of disapproval from society at large.
University Grads Make Up A Significant Portion of This Trend
While reports on the youth pretending to work in China have sparked off concerns, with critics calling it bizarre or ridiculous, the mission behind these spaces is a novel one. The owner of the Pretend To Work Company, operating under the pseudonym Feiyu, told the BBC, “What I’m selling isn’t a workstation, but the dignity of not being a useless person.”
Around 60% of the customers who use these shared workspaces are freelancers, many of whom just want a space to work freely. He also elaborated that 40% of his customers are recent university graduates who need to prove to have internship experience at their universities. Some show up to deal with pressures from their family, struggling to find work despite their best efforts.
The struggles of finding work despite a good educational background are not exclusive to China. Young Gen Z workers across the globe have found themselves struggling with finding employment after graduation, and many of them are forced to take on jobs in industries that have nothing to do with their qualifications. The youth in the US have been exploring blue-collar work as an alternative to college degrees, realizing that there may be more work to be found in such career paths.
The Unemployment Crisis Needs to Be Addressed
Whether China’s “pretend to work” trend will last or not, Feiyu doesn’t know, treating it as a social experiment in helping some of the youth maintain respectability and allowing them “to find the truth.” From an optimistic perspective, the youth who are turning to such trends should be able to find work and transition into employment smoothly due to their continued efforts to keep up the routine.
From a more critical standpoint, paying to pretend to work isn’t a sustainable strategy for the youth who participate. The Chinese government has incentivized businesses to hire those aged 16 to 24 by offering subsidies, but it’s unclear how effective this strategy will be long-term.
While more governmental support to improve their prospects and expand on job opportunities might be ideal, organizations also need to play their part in hiring these young and determined workers when possible. While there is a shift in the skillsets required among new hires, training young minds can be a very effective solution to building up the talent companies need to get the job done.
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